ThinkOlio Presents: How Vulnerable are Reproductive Rights in the US?: A Refresher on Roe v. Wade and Other Cases

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The week Donald Trump was elected president Planned Parenthood experienced one of the largest donation surges in its hundred-year history. In March, Vice President Pence cast a tie-breaking vote on a controversial bill that moved Congress one step closer to defunding clinics that offer abortion services. Women’s rights organizations are furious. Articles and op-eds are everywhere. The Pro-Choice movement is predicting Roe v Wade will soon come under reexamination by the Supreme Court.

This lecture will bring listeners up to speed on the legal history of reproductive rights in America beyond Roe v Wade. Topics will include the origins of Planned Parenthood, the abortion debates of the twentieth-century, the early birth-control movement, the role of the Supreme Court on this issue and, most especially, the fact that reproductive rights are legally rooted in the constitutional right to privacy. Front and center will be a retelling of the three most important reproductive rights cases in US legal history – including Roe. Listeners are invited to move beyond the typical knee-jerk reactions that so often accompany this emotionally charged issue, and gain a better grasp of exactly how reproductive rights are positioned and protected in our laws.

Lawrence Cappello is an historian and privacy advocate. He is the director of quantitative research at the CUNY Center of Latino Studies and a lecturer of United States history at CUNY Queens College. He has written for The Atlantic and The Nation.